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Ibn al-Khashshab of Aleppo
"The king of Rome I Komnenos is a better Muslim than the prince of the faithful" - Inb al-Khashshab insulting the Caliph of Baghdad because he hasn't sent troops to fight in the Crusades Abu'l-Faḍl Ibn al-Khashshāb (أبوالفضل بن الخشاب; died 1125) was the Shi'i qadi ''(judge) of Aleppo during the rule of the Seljuk emir Radwan. He was born of a rich wood-merchant family. History Upon the arrival of the First Crusade, ibn al-Khashshab was one of the first to preach ''jihad against the crusaders, a concept which became more popular throughout the 12th century. His preaching was popular among the masses, but Radwan, along with his Assassin advisers, were not willing to wage battle against the newly formed crusader states. On Friday 17 February 1111, he burst into the Sultan's mosque in Baghdad with a large group of Aleppans, among them a Hashemite sharif ''(a descendant of the Prophet) and a number of Sufis, ''imams, and merchants. According to Ibn al-Qalanisi "The forced the preacher to descend from the pulpit, which they smashed. They then began to cry out, to bewail the evils that had befallen Islam because of the Franj, who were killing men and enslaving women and children. Since they were preventing the faithful from saying their prayers, the officials present made various promises, in the name of the sultan, in an effort to pacify them: armies would be sent to defend Islam against the Fraj and all the infidels" When Radwan died in 1113, ibn al-Khashshab governed the city in place of weak or child emirs. He rid the city of the Assassins, by expulsion or execution. The Ismailis were tracked down street by street and house by house. Some were lynched by mobs. Nearly 200 Assassins and Ismailis were killed, among them their second ambassador, Abu Tahir the goldsmith. Ibn al-Qalanisi reported that: "several of them managed to flee and sought refuge among the Franj or dispreced into the countryside." The new king and son of Radwan, Alp Arslan, endorsed Ibn al-Khashshab's militant stance. Alp Arslan was only sixteen. Ibn al-Khashshab urged him to punish the traitors as to set an example, so Alp Arslan executed two of his brothers, several officers, a few servants, and anyone who he disliked in general. He also arrested and beheaded all of Radwan's collaborators and supporters. Little by little the civilians realized the truth, the king was mad! In 1114 Alp Arslan was killed by one of his guards, Lu'Lu' (pearl). The new king was Alp Arslan's brother, aged six. Aleppo was sinking deeper into anarchy day by day. While un-controllable groups of slaves and soldiers cut one another to pieces in the citadel, armed citizens patrolled the streets of the city to protect themselves against rioters and thieves. Assassination The crusaders besieged Aleppo in 1124, and when they desecrated Muslim cemeteries outside the city, ibn al-Khashshab ordered that four of the six Christian churches in the city, including the cathedral, be converted into mosques. The siege was eventually raised with help from Mosul in 1125. Later that year, as ibn al-Khashshab was leaving the great mosque of Aleppo after the midday prayer, an Assassin disguised as a monk leapt upon him and sunk a dagger into his chest. Reasons Behind the Assassination It was an act of revenge by the Assassins due to Ibn al-Khashshab massacring many Ismailis in Aleppo. Category:Victims Category:Qadis Category:Shi'is Category:Shi'i Qadis